Stamp Collector

64 MAY 2020 www.allaboutstamps.co.uk D e la Rue’s surface printing plates wore out at more or less predictable intervals, typically after 35,000 sheets. So they made sure that replacement plates were always available. As each new plate was made, six sheets were printed on gummed, imperforate paper and submitted to Somerset House for approval. These were called ‘imprimaturs’ from the Latin word meaning ‘let it be printed’; a more accurate term would be ‘registration sheets’. Of the six sheets, one was retained by Somerset House, while the others were perforated and distributed for circulation as normal. In most cases this went unnoticed, as the new plate was put to press soon afterwards. But in a few rare instances, something changed: a design, a colour, a watermark or postal rate. So the new plate was never used and the stamps from those five sheets became the only copies in existence. And there can only be 1,200 of them. The abnormals appeared from 1862 to 1880 and collectors have been on the lookout for them ever since. But many surface prints went abroad, not everybody knows about them and the vast numbers of surface prints produced makes them very much the needles in a philatelic haystack. So there is a distinct possibility that more examples might turn up. Here’s what to look for… Issues with small white corner letters, 1862-64… SG 78. 3d plate 3. ‘White dots’ The values from 3d to 9d did not have plate numbers incorporated into the design of the stamp, but they did appear in the sheet margin and there can be other differences, too. In the case of the 3d, plate 1 was defective and plate 2 was used for the entire official printing. Plate 3 had two white dots at the tops of the band of David Bailey provides a complete guide to the intriguing Queen Victoria 'Abnormals', a range that includes the rarest British stamps ever sold to the public COLLECTING GUIDE Britain's rarest stamps? e story of Britain’s Abnormals From left: a used example of the 3d white dots. Even with a straight edge, this stamp could easily fetch around £8,000 • This stamp was cut from the imprimatur sheet; we were unable to find a scan of the perforated stamp itself (image courtesy of Stanley Gibbons) colour containing the word ‘postage’. There are two mint copies known, plus twenty used copies and another two which could be mint or used. SG 88. 9d plate 3. ‘Hair lines’ Plate 1 of the 9d was not registered or put to press. In plate 2, the letters are reversed out of solid squares of Above: SG 145 on cover. One of two examples on cover – from Leeds to Warsaw, which was then under Russian control (image courtesy of Stanley Gibbons)